Golden Rules of the Silver River
The following are the three Golden Rules of the Silver River, guiding how content is developed in the universe and limiting what I (the author) consider to be gross overuse of certain sci-fi tropes in many, though not all, popular sci-fi universes. There are the occasional exception to these rules, barring rule two, but by and large those exceptions are very, very far and few between. Rule 1: Humans Are Not Special Humans are, in this universe, incredibly unimportant. By and large they are, in fact, the red shirts of the universe, designed to die horribly whilst non-human heroes and villains actually accomplish things. I generally find it irritating most sci-fi glorifies humanity, portraying it as capable of somehow mustering the strength to vanquish more advanced species solely because, well, they're us. Humans are but one species among thousands in this universe, and they've more or less wiped themselves out nearly. They have practically returned to the stone age as a result, and it's only through the Veshani they're starting to return to any semblence of an actual society. Even then their enslavement and the Veshani's means of indoctrinating slaves deeply damaged their world view, and thus it'll likely take them several generations to become functional as a people. As a result, human heroes who go around shooting things and being badasses are non-existent in this universe. However, the occasional human who can influence events for the better or worse does exist, but they are rare and the majority are still trapped in an obedient slave-like mentality. Rule 2: No Near-Human/Human Looking Species The no exception rule. All alien species must either be either truly alien, or at least resemble an animal or non-human mythological beast rather than a human. Human-esque aliens are an irritating remnant of an era where the limitations of both technology and the imagination resulted in every quote-unquote 'alien' was nothing more than a human with some plastic prosthetic or makeup put on them. Whilst aliens looking even remotely similar to Earth native animals is unrealistic as well, the fact of the matter is it at least can have the benefit of creating some truly alien looking creatures if done right. Or at least generating a bit more diversity than 'green skinned alien woman #287.' Likewise, as an extension of this rule, some effort should be made to at least slightly alienize any directly animal-based species, to at least give them some qualities beyond possibly a humanoid body structure that would not be present on the actual animal in question. Rule 3: No One Culture Species AKA Planet of Hats A trope that is rather prevalent in all types of fantastic literature, sci-fi or not. The species which members all conform to one very strict stereotype with the ones that don’t being the exceptions, not the rule. I understand why authors generally use this, as it’s hard to create a species as diverse as humans are, but you can at least try. It's a bit of a copout to make every species a ‘proud warrior,’ ‘greedy merchant,’ ‘scary invaders’ or ‘peaceful priests.’ Diversity as more difficult, but also more interesting to your audience. Not to mention, it strains the suspention of disbelief less. Let us look at this logically. After all, can you distinctly state a stereotype for humanity that applies to every single human, regardless of their culture, religion, personal preferences and mental capabilities? It is highly doubtful you can. Humanity doesn’t have one religion, one culture, one set way of thinking. It is diverse and plentiful. Humanity is made up of civilizations, which have societies, which have cultures and religions, which have people, which have their own ideas. While it is possible a species could be like your average sci-fi one track mind species, as nothing regarding aliens is truly impossible given the nature of the concept, it is largely improbable that every example would be a Planet of Hats without exception. Thus, the Silver River attempts to reflect this in giving almost each species, with a few exceptions, at least a dozen or so cultures. The vast majority have a great deal more.